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Call us on 01702 353557 or apply online at www.vts.ac.uk.

Care managers: are you inspection ready? An inspection shouldn’t be something you only start thinking about when you kno...
23/10/2026

Care managers: are you inspection ready?

An inspection shouldn’t be something you only start thinking about when you know one is coming

Being inspection ready is about the everyday things: confident staff, up-to-date knowledge, good practice and a team that understands not just what they do, but why they do it 📋

So, how confident would you feel if an inspector walked through your door tomorrow?

October is a great time to take stock ⤵

✔️ Are there any gaps in your team’s knowledge?
✔️ Is mandatory and additional training up to date?
✔️ Have appraisals highlighted areas for development?
✔️ Do your team feel confident putting their learning into practice?

If you’ve identified an area that could do with a refresh, VTS offers a range of short online care courses to help you keep learning and development moving forward

We want to support settings to ensure they feel ready all year round.

Explore our care training
➡️ https://vts.ac.uk/product-category/online-webinar/care/

21/10/2026

In her new role, Amy is going to be supporting our settings with their inclusion skills when it comes to the children and adults in their care, which lays the foundation of all of the work they do 💙

However, Amy will also be supporting settings to ensure they are inclusive of their staff and learners

In this video Amy explains how she supports learners. If you have any questions feel free to reach out to your tutor, or visit our website for more information 💻

🌟 Tutor Spotlight: Angela Dersley We love celebrating our staff and giving them a moment in the spotlight. This month ou...
19/10/2026

🌟 Tutor Spotlight: Angela Dersley

We love celebrating our staff and giving them a moment in the spotlight. This month our Tutor shines a light on Angela, our Care Tutor who delivers these qualifications:

🔸 Adult Care Worker Level 2
🔹 Lead Adult Care Worker Level 3
🔸 Lead Practitioner in Adult Care Level 4

Prior to working at VTS, Angela worked as a carer and then progressed to be a senior carer for 8 years in a care home. Angela then proceeded to supervise other carers and deliver training for 4 years with a community care provider

Having previously been a care apprentice at VTS Angela is now excited to be sharing her knowledge and expertise with new apprentices in the care industry ✨

In her spare time, Angela loves walking her dog which gives her a chance to enjoy the
outdoors and is a perfect way to unwind 🐶

Angela also has a passion for drawing and getting creative in many aspects of life, whether it’s trying out new DIY projects or redecorating her home. Angela proudly considers herself a serial decorator, frequently refreshing her environment to make it feel new and inspiring

Thank you Angela for all of your hard work 👏

Great care starts with confident, knowledgeable teams 👍In a sector where every day brings different challenges, keeping ...
16/10/2026

Great care starts with confident, knowledgeable teams 👍

In a sector where every day brings different challenges, keeping skills and knowledge up to date matters, for your staff, your service and, most importantly, the people you support

That’s why VTS offers a range of short online courses for the care sector, giving individuals and teams the opportunity to refresh their knowledge, build confidence and continue their professional development.

👉 Swipe through to explore some of the training available.

Whether you’re a care manager looking at development needs across your team, setting new objectives following appraisals, or simply looking to strengthen knowledge in a particular area, there could be a course to support your next step

Small investments in learning can make a big difference to confidence and practice 👏

Explore our care courses ➡️
https://vts.ac.uk/product-category/online-webinar/care/

If you think something is missing we'd be happy to create content tailored to your needs: get in touch and share your ideas, we'd love to hear them

📞 01702 353557
📧 [email protected]

14/10/2026

The Care sector requires employees to have some core skills, and it can be an extremely rewarding career for those willing to learn 💙

Here, our Senior Care Tutor Jade explains the top 5 things we look for in a good learner...watch Jade's video and find out how you can ensure you reach your goals 📲

If you'd like to have a chat about how we can support the learners in your settings, across both the Care and Early Years sectors, we'd love to hear from you

📞 01702 353557
📧 [email protected]

Not every child with additional needs has a diagnosis 🧩And they don’t need to have one before we start thinking about ho...
12/10/2026

Not every child with additional needs has a diagnosis 🧩

And they don’t need to have one before we start thinking about how best to support them

For early years practitioners, understanding SEND and recognising how individual needs can present is more relevant than ever

🌟 Our SEND Short Course explores supporting children with a diagnosis and those without, helping practitioners build their knowledge, confidence and understanding so they can better support every child in their care

Whether it’s part of your own professional development, a SMART target following an appraisal, or an area you’d like your wider team to feel more confident in, this is a valuable addition to your training ➕

Ultimately, good SEND practice is about seeing the individual child, understanding their needs and helping them to thrive

Find out more about our short courses ➡️ https://vts.ac.uk/shop/

📞 01702 353557
📧 [email protected]

09/10/2026

Over the past month we've officially launched our Short Courses: content designed to enrich the learning of your teams and give that important CPD in many areas of both care and early years

They are designed to be accessible, and you can see all of the content available on our website, as well as being able to book it right there and then ☑️

Here is a short demo of how to find the Short Courses on our website. We lead you through the site and show you how to benefit from the content available 💻

If you've got any ideas for more content we'd love to hear from you - we're open to evolving and expanding this offering based on what you want and need

We look forward to hearing from you 🙏

07/10/2026

We take pride in supporting our learners and settings, but one of our biggest achievements is supporting our staff 💫

We're delighted that from January, Amy Grant is taking on an expanded role, Head of Functional Skills and Inclusive Learning. Amy will continue to run the functional skills side of VTS, but is now going to be playing an active role in ensuring all learning is inclusive 🌀

Amy will continue to liaise with learners, and work closely with Tutors to ensure quality assurance. Her role will provide particular assistance to SEND learners, those with English as an additional language, and other challenges that may cause barriers to learning. This dedicated role will provide structure and assurance all round

If you'd like to know more about the support Amy can offer, please speak with your Tutor - and we wish Amy the best of luck for her new role 🧡

Appraisal season is here… what’s next for your team? 🧡For many managers, Autumn is a time for appraisals, reflecting on ...
05/10/2026

Appraisal season is here… what’s next for your team? 🧡

For many managers, Autumn is a time for appraisals, reflecting on progress and setting new goals for the months ahead

And when you’re setting those all-important SMART targets, it’s worth asking:

🍁 Is there an area where this person could build their confidence?
🍂 Would some additional training strengthen their knowledge?
🍁 Is there a skill they’d like to develop as part of their progression?

A SMART target doesn’t have to mean a huge qualification or months of study

➡️ Some focused CPD can be a practical, achievable way to support professional development, while bringing new knowledge and ideas back into your setting

At VTS, we offer online training designed with the needs of the care and early years sectors in mind, including our Wellbeing Webinars and Caring for Babies courses.

So, if training comes up in this year’s appraisal conversations, take a look at what’s available and turn that development goal into action

📲 https://vts.ac.uk/shop/

And we welcome ideas for more courses as we're constantly developing new sessions...contact us if see a gap in our offering 📧

📞 01702 353557
📧 [email protected]

How much screen-time is too much? 💻It's a divisive area and one that comes with personal opinion as well as more and mor...
02/10/2026

How much screen-time is too much? 💻

It's a divisive area and one that comes with personal opinion as well as more and more research

The Department for Education has guidelines in place to assist early years' settings and the revised EYFS 2026 requires providers to have regard to the DFE’s screen-use guidance

So what do they suggest? ⤵

🔶 Your setting should be able to demonstrate that you have considered the guidance and have a thoughtful and consistent approach to screen use.
🔷 Under 2s: avoid screen use.
🔶 Ages 2-5: up to 1 hour a day, but this should be used carefully and intentionally for specific learning and development reasons.
🔷 There should be a clear reason for using a screen and it should contribute to the child’s learning and development.

You can see more information on their website, allowing you to continue enriching the learning of the children in your setting 📲

Address

Chalkwell Lawns, 648-656 London Road
Southend-on-Sea
SS09HR

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 5pm
Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 4:30am

Telephone

01702 353557

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